Gepárd anti-materiel rifle

In 1987, the Hungarian People's Army sought to obtain a compact, mobile weapon that could damage lightly armored targets.

The project, led by Ferenc Földi (Institute of Military Technology of the Hungarian People's Army), culminated in the creation of the Gepárds.

To do this, the user had to rotate, pull back, remove the grip assembly (whose shape resembles a signal-flare handgun), and insert another cartridge.

Improvements, such as the addition of a carrier/lafette backpack and a longer barrel, led to the M1A1 variant, but at 21 kg (46 lb) its combat weight was deemed excessive.

The M1 was essentially a sniper weapon, not primarily intended for military field application, but for anti-terrorist police and special forces' use, who operate on the "one shot, one kill" principle.

Owing to the great weight of Gepárd M1, sharpshooters were instructed to abandon the weapon if forced to retreat quickly and only save the grip assembly for proof, rendering the gun useless.

A fiber optic technology scope and eyepiece imaging system was developed (or at least proposed) to allow use of a hip-fired M2A2 for VIP protection purposes.

[2] The M3 is strictly an anti-materiel rifle, because while the 14.5mm round is extremely powerful, its accuracy degrades rapidly at ranges beyond 1,000 m (3,300 ft).

This rifle used the 12.7×108mm and .50 BMG rounds, like the M2 and M4, but featured stronger parts, lighter weight, shorter length and an improved scope.